User123abc on 4/9/2007 at 20:58
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
Word. Just because you don't have the balls to stand up for your rights, Pyrian, don't knock those that do. Heck, this guy is doing us all a favour.
I really admire the guy, especially after following the link to his site and reading about some of his other exploits in life.
Ethics, principles, and laws should always be dealt with by taking things to extremes. Whether or not it's a good idea to let stores check your receipts (it probably is), it's not a law. Any attempts to enforce such a practice as law should be fought - for pretty much those exact reasons which the guy lists in his explanation. If you get in the habit of ignoring the obligations which others place upon you, and to which you never agreed, pretty soon you might find yourself letting far more inconveniencing things slide. Like, for instance, sitting for the rest of your life in Gitmo
And if this is an acceptable obligation, then all this guy's trouble will amount to is the creation of a law that explicitly states that receipts must be shown. But even then, that's still doing everyone a huge favor, because now people can debate about it in a democratic fashion (ie. should it be a law or not?).
Edit:
By the way, obviously I agree with all this talk about resisting authority and whatnot, but really... The police force here is pretty fucking marvelous compared to those of other countries. If anyone here has lived in or visited a former soviet republic, you should know what I'm talking about.
jtr7 on 4/9/2007 at 21:09
[rant]
"If you don't want to see it, don't look."
"If you don't want to hear it, don't listen."
"If you don't like it, go somewhere else."
Don't put it in front of my face where I don't expect it, so I don't unwillingly see it to begin with. By seeing it the first time, without warning, I didn't HAVE a choice. Now it's an image in my mind, like a song that won't stop playing, no matter where else I go.
Don't physically broadcast sounds of your making or another's where I can't shut it out. By doing so, you take away my choices or limit them to a couple unacceptable choices with, potentially, even more unacceptable consequences.
Don't expect me to go somewhere else when I chose the place I went to for reasons that had precedence for me over the others. There's a possibility that nowhere else in my town has what I went there for, in specific terms, or even in general. They may have the only replacement parts for an item, or I may need to go there to fulfill the obligations of a warranty. Or they may simply be very convenient, on the way to my next destination, close enough to home to walk, or have the best price. Saving money on gasoline may be an important consideration.
If a business I frequent suddenly institutes a blanket policy that I'm unaware of, and gets aggressive with me as though it's common sense or something, which suggests, by its nature, that I share blame--I will consider taking my business elsewhere, but I may not be able to, depending....
Thief13x on 4/9/2007 at 21:48
Scots, do you know how hard it is to read your post while intoxicated? I gotta take another look wtf
Stitch on 4/9/2007 at 21:54
yeah scots your post is way too hard to read while banging this chick :mad:
Thief13x on 4/9/2007 at 21:58
try doggystyle man:p
Scots Taffer on 4/9/2007 at 23:35
Quote Posted by Stitch
yeah scots your post is way too hard to read while banging this chick :mad:
That's funny, I posted it while getting a hummer.
I think Wynne and Tonamel both get what's wrong from the consumer rights end; the confrontation with a police officer really does seem like one of those classic clashes with authority (maybe it
is more of a post 9/11 thing, as Lesser suggests, if so then I don't see why it should be meekly accepted and toeing the line through fear of authority should became the standard, as that's a very scary standard), except the difference in this instance is that the arrested person
called the police for assistance, not vice versa. It's an interesting situation for the dynamics that are raised as well as the preconceived "legal" powers that both the store and the police officer were claiming and forcefully weilding.
fett on 5/9/2007 at 00:07
Quote Posted by SD
Well, luckily we have guys like this who are prepared make a stand when we're too much of a fucking pussy to do so. You probably think Rosa Parks shoulda just got up out of that seat too.
Speaking of slippery slopes, is it really fair to compare the two things? Parks was standing up for a group of people who were being treated unequally for reasons beyond their own control. This guy *chose* to shop at Circuit City, *chose* to make the purchase there, and *chose* not to conform to the bag check. Parks more or less had no choice of public transportation that didn't subject her to subhuman treatment, and had no other options to chose from. It was either stay seated, or keep getting discriminated against. This guy could have said 'fuck Circuit City, I'm going to shop at one of the other 1,500 A/V franchises in town that don't treat their customers like criminals.'
Seriously - how many places actually do this? SAM'S Club and Guitar Center are the only ones I can think of offhand. Not sure about SAM's Club, but I empathize with Guitar Center because most of their customers are thieving, lying, crackhead motherfuckers who'd steal from their own mom (read: musicians).
SubJeff on 5/9/2007 at 01:37
Of course it's fair. To use your stupid analogy - this guy was standing up for a group of people who were being treated unequally for reasons beyond their own control.
Rosa *chose* to use public transport, *chose* to sit there, and *chose* not to move.
This guy more or less had no choice but shops of that ilk with asshats of that ilk running them or choice of cops of that ilk that didn't subject him to incorrect treatment, and so had no other options to chose from as the whole point is that this crap can be pervasive.
It was either resist as he did, or keep getting his rights violated. Rosa could have said 'fuck the public transport, I'm going to use anther method/sit in another seat/go to another country where I won't have to put up with this.
Btw - your last point makes NOOOOO sense at all because this guy is no Hiro Nakamura and he had already bought the stuff.
Tonamel on 5/9/2007 at 02:28
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
the arrested person
called the police for assistance, not vice versa.
The police calling the arrested person for assistance?
Scots Taffer on 5/9/2007 at 02:39
Oops!
You know what I meant though, the store.
